Short answer
The Denver metro area has 1,929 accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll offices with paid employees, employing 15,900 people (Census County Business Patterns, 2023). Arapahoe (492), Jefferson (461) and Denver (455) counties have the most offices, and Denver County has 58% of the jobs. 793 are CPA offices and 769 bookkeeping and other accounting services. The Colorado State Board of Accountancy licenses CPAs and CPA firms.
- 1,929 offices employ 15,900 people at average pay of $85,971; 76% have fewer than five employees.
- Denver County offices average 20.2 employees; Jefferson County offices average 3.9.
- Bookkeeping and other non-CPA offices average just 3.2 employees.
- Denver has 1.51 times the national concentration of accountants and auditors, at a median wage of $100,020.
- The IRS listing has 2,735 CPAs and 848 enrolled agents with a metro business address.
On this page
This report is for Front Range businesses and households choosing an accountant, accountants comparing Denver employers, and companies that sell to accounting and bookkeeping practices. It covers where the offices are, what kind each is, how to check a professional, pay, and prospecting.
The suburbs have the offices, the city has the jobs
County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, NAICS 5412 (accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services), Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area (CBSA 19740), eight largest counties:
| County | Establishments | Employees | Per office |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arapahoe | 492 | 2,838 | 5.8 |
| Jefferson | 461 | 1,811 | 3.9 |
| Denver | 455 | 9,203 | 20.2 |
| Douglas | 250 | 940 | 3.8 |
| Adams | 177 | 704 | 4.0 |
| Broomfield | 48 | 312 | 6.5 |
| Elbert | 20 | 55 | 2.8 |
| Park | 14 | Not reported (high-noise figure) |
Park County's employee total was published but flagged as high-noise, meaning confidentiality noise changed it by 5% or more.
| Measure (2023) | Denver metro |
|---|---|
| Establishments | 1,929 |
| Employees (week of March 12) | 15,900 |
| Annual payroll | $1,366,943,000 |
| Average employees per establishment | 8.2 |
| Average annual pay | $85,971 |
| Share of US establishments | 1.41% of 137,069 |
By our ranking of the CBP metro file, Denver is 12th among US metro areas by number of accounting offices. CBP counts establishments with paid employees, not firms, and leaves out the self-employed.
Office sizes
| Employees | Offices |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 1,462 |
| 5 to 9 | 269 |
| 10 to 19 | 111 |
| 20 to 49 | 39 |
| 50 to 99 | 23 |
| 100 to 249 | 16 |
| 250 to 499 | 4 |
| 500 to 999 | 4 |
| 1,000 or more | 1 |
The Census Bureau marks the 1,000-or-more cell as not published; the 1 shown is the total less the published cells. Denver County's own classes include all 4 offices with 500 to 999 employees, and the same subtraction puts the largest office there too. Census doesn't name them, and SEC EDGAR has no listed accounting companies to add because it has no accounting industry code. The largest firms in the world are the Big 4 accounting firms, all private partnerships.
Four kinds of practice
| Type (NAICS 2022) | Offices | Employees | Per office |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPA offices (541211) | 793 | 9,399 | 11.9 |
| Other accounting, including bookkeeping (541219) | 769 | 2,462 | 3.2 |
| Tax preparation (541213) | 315 | 1,653 | 5.2 |
| Payroll services (541214) | 52 | 2,386 | 45.9 |
A CPA office is the one to call for audited or reviewed statements, a business sale or complex tax planning. The bookkeeping offices average about three employees, a good fit for monthly books at a lower rate. Payroll offices are few but large.
The county split is a rough guide to where to look. All nine offices with 250 or more staff are in Denver County, by its published size classes. Jefferson, Douglas and Adams counties are almost all small practices, averaging four people or fewer, which is often what a household or a small business wants: the same person every year, at a lower rate.
Checking a Colorado professional
- CPAs and CPA firms. The Colorado State Board of Accountancy licenses both; NASBA's state board directory lists its website and statutes. NASBA's CPAverify also searches license data supplied by state boards.
- Tax preparers. The IRS's August 2026 preparer listing, released under the Freedom of Information Act, has 7,892 preparers with a metro business address: 2,735 CPAs, 848 enrolled agents and 298 attorneys. 3,736 (47%) have no IRS credential and no Annual Filing Season Program record. The city of Denver lists 3,036 preparers, 1,183 of them CPAs. Check enrolled agents and filing season participants in the IRS directory of preparers with credentials.
- Representation. If you face an IRS audit, collection or appeal, only a CPA, enrolled agent or attorney can represent you in every matter.
- Fees. The IRS warns against preparers who base fees on a percentage of your refund.
- Public company audits need a PCAOB-registered firm; 194 US firms issued public company audit reports in 2025, and 12 issued more than 100.
A metro with one and a half times the usual share of accountants
Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025, Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro:
| Occupation | Employed | Concentration vs US | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accountants and auditors | 22,720 | 1.51 | $100,020 |
| Bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks | 14,100 | 0.99 | $57,510 |
| Financial managers | 7,490 | 0.86 | $193,400 |
| Tax preparers | 970 | 1.22 | $65,150 |
Concentration is BLS's location quotient, the occupation's local share of jobs relative to its national share. For job seekers, CPA offices pay $107,692 per employee in CBP, our calculation from payroll.
Selling to Denver accounting and bookkeeping practices
Illustrative example. The company and rates are invented; the counts come from CBP.
Summit Payroll (summitpayroll.example) wants bookkeepers to resell its payroll service to their clients. The metro's 769 bookkeeping and other accounting offices are the channel, and at about three employees each, the owner usually decides alone. Summit finds each owner through the practice's website and offers a revenue share, contacting them in May, after filing season, and again in November, when clients plan the new year. If it reaches an illustrative 60% of owners, that's 461 conversations; a 5% sign-up rate gives 23 partner practices.
Finding 769 owners and what each practice does is the slow part; Bebop finds matching practices and contacts. For how firms buy, see the list of accounting firms; for the IRS file and national counts, see how many accountants there are.
Local sources
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| NASBA state board directory | The Colorado State Board of Accountancy's website and statutes |
| IRS PTIN listings | Colorado's free file of tax preparers by city and credential |
| Metro Denver EDC | The regional economic development corporation |
Next step: compare another western market in accounting firms in Seattle.
Sources
- County Business Patterns (CBP), 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- North American Industry Classification System, 2022 (industries 541211 to 541219), US Census Bureau, 2022, accessed 30 October 2026
- State boards of accountancy directory, National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, accessed 30 October 2026
- Licensure and redesigned CPAverify and ALD sites, National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, 17 October 2025
- PTIN information and the Freedom of Information Act (preparer listings by state), Internal Revenue Service, updated 14 August 2026
- Understanding tax return preparer credentials and qualifications, Internal Revenue Service, accessed 30 October 2026
- Topic no. 254, How to choose a tax return preparer, Internal Revenue Service, accessed 30 October 2026
- 2025 Annual Report (registered firms as of 31 December 2025), Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, 2026
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: metropolitan area estimates, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many accounting firms are in Denver?
Census County Business Patterns counted 1,929 accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll establishments with paid employees in the Denver metro area in 2023, employing 15,900 people. Arapahoe County had 492, Jefferson 461 and Denver County 455. 793 were CPA offices. These are offices with employees, not firms, and they exclude accountants working alone.
Who licenses CPAs in Colorado?
The Colorado State Board of Accountancy licenses CPAs and CPA firms, and NASBA's directory of state boards lists its website and statutes. To check a license from another state as well, NASBA's CPAverify searches data that state boards supply. For tax preparers who aren't CPAs, use the IRS directory of federal tax return preparers with credentials.
Do I need a CPA or a bookkeeper?
Use a bookkeeper for monthly records, invoicing and reconciliations; the Denver metro has 769 bookkeeping and other accounting offices, averaging about three employees each. Use a CPA firm when a lender, investor or buyer wants audited or reviewed statements, or for complex tax planning and IRS disputes. Many small businesses use a bookkeeper monthly and a CPA at year end.
How much do accountants make in Denver?
Accountants and auditors in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro area earned a median of $100,020 a year in May 2025, across 22,720 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The metro has 1.51 times the national concentration of accountants. Tax preparers earned a median of $65,150 and bookkeeping clerks $57,510.